C.S. Lewis concurred in his writings with earlier Christian writers that pride is the essential vice, the foundation of all sin, and since we are all sinners, then we are all in various stages of pride. His premise? The minute a creature is aware of God as God and of itself as self, the terrible alternative of choosing God or self as the center is opened to it. Pride is the fall in each day of every individual life and the basic sin behind all sins; at this moment, you and I are either commiting it, or about to commit it, or repenting from it. (The Problem of Pain)
Young children, elders, peasants and nobility, we all make choices everyday between doing what we want and doing what God wants; between idolizing our wants and emotions or idolizing God’s precepts; between glorifying ourselves and our egos or glorifying God. A sense of entitlement and pride comes into play when we veer away from God in making all our choices.
The sense of entitlement and pride, two sides of a coin, each leading to the other in a fast moving tango, are two issues Jesus warned His listeners about several times. In Luke 14: 7-11, He noted those who go to a gathering and automatically assume the places of honor, not waiting to be invited there; and warned that such people would be humbled at some point, if not by the party host, then by His heavenly Father who absolutely despises a haughty look and pride. Whoever exalteth himself shall be abased….v.11. Also Provs.6:16; 11:2; 16:5,18-19; 29:23; 1 Peter 5:5; 1 Corinthians 4:7;
He rebuked the Pharisees for loving to be seated in high places – Luke 11:43. The operative word in that rebuke is their loving the honor. Being acknowledged based on societal values as worthy of the highest seat is not a bad thing, insisting and doting on it is. Just as wealth in of itself is not a bad thing, it is the love of wealth which implies greed and idolatory, that is repugnant to our Father. Loving honor, loving recognition and adulation, desperation for validation; we should frequently examine ourselves for symptoms of this malignancy known as pride and root them out. If we ever find ourselves asking another party, “do you know who I am?”, we need to run towards Jesus for a swift repentance and healing.
For Pride is a spiritual cancer, says C.S. Lewis. He observes that other and lesser vices come from the devil working on our animal nature, but pride is purely spiritual and directly from hell, therefore more subtle and deadly. It is a malignancy that eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense. Equally despicable is religious pride, when we forget that our progress in faith, spiritual gifts and developing godly character are only by grace, and look down on those who have not come as far as we have.
Indeed, we are all guilty. And anyone who does not think he or she is guilty should ask the God who judges our thoughts, hearts and motives about His impression of them. ‘Nuff said…..
The Christians are right: It is pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But pride always means enmity-it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God. – C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Hilltop Thoughts, Valley Strengths 